Transport package



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 31, 1963 Fig.1

INVENTOR A riders RL. BLLLLng BY 131M 1 3 PM ATTORNEYS arch 30, 1965 A.R. L. BILLING TRANSPORT PACKAGE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 31, 1963IINVENTOR Anders R.L.BCLLLH3 BY M ATTORNEYS March 30, 1965 A. R. L.BILLING TRANSPORT PACKAGE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 31, 1963 INVENTORAnders RLBLU m JZM J mm.

ATTORNEYS 3,175,683 TRANSPORT PACKAGE Anders Robert Leonard Billing,Lnnd, Sweden, assignor The present invention relates to a transportpackage for tetrahedron-shaped bodies having four equal sides, in theshape of equilateral triangles, together with blanks for such packages.

The tetrahedron-shaped packages, which are becoming more and more usualin the retail trade especially for liquid goods, have caused problems inconnection with distribution and storage as these tetrahedron-shapedpackages are difficult to stack or pack in transport packages in arational and space-saving way. This problem, which is a very importantone, from an economical point of view has, when dealing with regulartetrahedrons, mostly been solved by stacking the tetrahedron-shapedbodies in hexagonal prismatic containers in accordance with SwedishPatents Nos. 150,453 and 175,387.

This method of stacking is well suited for stacking of a large quantityof tetrahedrons, but on the other hand it is unsuitable for stacking offor instance three to ten tetrahedrons.

The transport package suggested herein which is based on a staplingmethod quite different to the mentioned patents, is, however, suitablefor a smaller quantity, preferably three, five or six tetrahedron-shapedpackages. The transport package in accordance with the invention ismanufactured from a flat blank, which is divided into sections,individually separated by crease lines and which are characterizedfirstly by two congruent equally sided trapeziums with common base lineand with a base angle, which is approximately the same as the base anglefor the tetrahedron sides and with a height which in the maincorresponds to the height of those, secondly by flaps which areconnected with the trapezium sections along each one of their legs andeach of the trapezium sections being, at the side opposite to the base,connected with an end section serving as a handle for carrying andfurther that at least one of these sections on either side is providedwith sections, which are connected with the mentioned flaps, and that atleast one of the two end sections is connected with the two nearestflaps.

Transport packages in accordance with the invention may be divided intwo groups, viz. those which take a single row of tetrahedrons placedside by side and those 'which in principle consist of two packages ofthe first mentioned type put together and consequently take a double rowof tetrahedrons.

The first mentioned transport package is characterized therein that anodd number, preferably three or five, tetrahedron bodies are placed sideby side with their triangular side surfaces resting against one of thementioned trapezium sections in such a way that the top of every othertriangular surface is pointing upwards and every other downwards, andthat the configuration in this way formed by the triangular surfaces inthe main runs closely along the border lines of the trapezium sectionand further that the blank is arranged to be folded along the joint baseline of the trapezium sections and to be bent into a position where theempty trapezium section is resting against the tetrahedrons placed onthe first mentioned trapezium section, and further that the mentionedtriangular flaps are arranged to be folded inwards against thetetrahedron-shaped bodies thereby forming the end walls of the package.The last mentioned double transport package is characterized thereinthat an odd number,

3,l75,h83 Patented Mar. 30, 1965 preferably three or five,tetrahedron-shaped bodies are placed side by side with their triangularside surfaces resting against each of the mentioned trapezium sectionsin such a way that the top of every other triangular surface is pointingupwards and every other downwards, and that the configuration in thisway formed by the triangular surfaces in the main runs closely along theborder lines of the two trapezium sections, and further that the blankis arranged to be folded along the joint base line of the trapeziumsections and to be bent into a position where the tetrahedron-shapedbodies placed on both sections are resting against each other, andfurther that the triangular flaps are arranged to be folded inwardsagainst the tetrahedron-shaped bodies thereby forming the end walls ofthe package.

In the following the invention is described in detail with reference tothe enclosed drawings, in which FIGS. 1 and 2 show fiat blanks, providedwith crease lines, for transport packages intended for three and sixtetrahedrons, respectively,

FIG. 3 shows a finished transport package intended for three tetrahedronbodies,

FIG. 4 shows a package intended for six tetrahedron bodies and FIG. 5 inperspective shows how tetrahedrons are stacked in a hexagonal transportbasket.

On the flat, crease-lined blank shown in FIG. 1 two equally sidedtrapezium sections are marked with 1 and 2, respectively. The sections 1and 2 are connected along their base lines by a crease line 3, runningacross the blank. The sections 1 and 2 are further, at equal legs of thetrapezium sections, connected with flaps 4, 5, 6 and 7, of which theflaps 6 and '7 in turn are connected with the triangular sections 8 and9, respectively. Further the trapezium section 2 is connected with arectangularly configured end section 12, which in turn is connected withfirstly a handle part and secondly with side sections 10 and 11,respectively, which are connected with the sections 8 and h,respectively. The trapezium section 1 is directly connected with thehandle part 14 without any intermediate end section. For the blank,shown in FIG. 2, the same symbols are used as in FIG. 1. In this figure,however, the trapezium section 1 is connected with an end section 19equal to the end section 12 connected to the trapezium section 2. Theend section 19 connected to the trapezium section l'is in turn connectedfirstly with the side sections 17 and 18 of the end section 19 andsecondly with the handle part 14. Furthermore between the sections 4 and17 and between 5 and 18 triangular sections 15 and 16, respectively, arearranged which are connected with the mentioned sections.

FIG. 3 shows a transport package which has been made from the blank inaccordance with FIG. 1 and corresponding reference marks as for thatfigure are therefore used. The tetrahedrons in the transport package arefurther marked with 20.

FIG. 4, which shows the blank in accordance with FIG. 2 in erectedcondition, has reference marks corresponding to those in FIG. 2. Thetetrahedrons in the transport package are also here marked with 20.

The transport package according to FIG. 3 is intended for threetetrahedron bodies and is made from a creaselined, flat blank inaccordance with FIG. 1.

The tetrahedron bodies 2a, which each consist of four equal, equilateralside surfaces, their heights being equal to the height of the trapeziumsection of the blank and the length of their sides being equal to thelength of the trapezium sides, are placed closely together with the sidesurfaces resting against the section 1 in such a way that the base linesfor the side surfaces of the outer tetrahedrons run closely along thebase line 3 of the trapezium section 1, whilst on the other hand theintermediate tetrahedron is placed in such a way that its base line willrun closely along the trapezium side, which is opposite to the base line3. Furthermore the edge lines of the outer tetrahedrons run closelyalong the leg of the trapezium section 1. After placing thetetrahedron-shaped bodies 26 on the section it in the way describedabove, the blank is folded along the base crease line 3, whereby thetrapezium section 2 is bent against the section 1 until the section 2 isin contact with the tetrahedrons 2t) placed on the section 1.

Thereafter the sections and 11 are folded against the inside of section12 to which it may be fixed, for instance by gluing. Through the lastmentioned folding and through the outsides of the flaps 8 and 9,respectively, being folded against and fixed to the outsides of thesections 10 and 11, respectively, the end wall flaps 6 and '7 will forman angle with the insides of the trapezium sections 1 and 2, whichapproximately corresponds to the edge angles of the tetrahedrons,wherefore the end wall flaps 6 and 7 will rest against the end wallsides of the outer tetrahedrons. For the purpose of keeping the packagetogether the handle parts 13 and 14 are thereafter placed against eachother and fixed by gluing or wiring. In order to facilitate handling ofthe transport package the handle parts 13 and 14- are provided withholes to make a grip for the hand.

The transport package in accordance with FIG. 4 is intended for sixtetrahedrons and equals two packages for three tetrahedrons puttogether. The flat crease-lined blank for this larger transport package,as shown in FIG. 2, is symmetrical around the joint base line 3 of thetrapezium sections 1 and 2 and therefore the finished transport packagein accordance with FIG. 4 will be symmetrical with respect to a planethrough the base line 3 and the handle parts 13 and 14 when these arejoined.

The transport package as shown in FIG. 4 is made through placingtetrahedron-shaped bodies with same relations of measurements comparedwith the trapezium sections 1 and 2 as in the construction previouslydescribed, on the sections 1 and 2 in such a way that three tetrahedronsare placed against each of the sections. The tetrahedrons 20 placed onthe section 1 and 2, respectively, are arranged in the previouslydescribed pattern, whereafter the blank is folded along the base line 3.The sections 1 and 2 are folded against each other until thetetrahedrons 2t) placed on the section 1 are resting against thetetrahedrons placed on section 2.

In the same way as in the construction described before the insides ofthe sections 10 and 11 together with 17 and 18, respectively, are foldedagainst the insides of the end Wall sections 12 and 19, respectively,and are fixed to these for instance by gluing. The outsides of thesections 8, 9, 15 and 16 are bent against and fixed to the ousides ofthe sections 10, 11, 17 and 18, respectively, whereby the end wall flaps4, 5, 6 and 7 are fixed in such a position in relation to the trapeziumsections 1 and 2 that the angle between each one of the mentioned flapsand the corresponding trapezium section approximately corresponds to theedge angle of the mentioned tetrahedron bodies. Finally the end sections12 and 19 are folded inwards over the tetrahedrons, and thereafter thehandle parts 13 and 14 are joined and fixed to each other by forinstance wiring or gluing.

The transport packages made in this way have apart from their functionin keeping the tetrahedrons together also proved to protect thetetrahedrons placed in the transport packages and consequently these areless liable to get damaged in handling during transport and storage.Furthermore a transport package of the type here mentioned is relativelyinexpensive in relation to known transport packages for tetrahedrons.

The constructions shown herein have been found to be optimum with regardto size, but it is of course possible within the framework of thisinvention to make the pack- Q. age blank broader so that each one of thetrapezium sections will take for instance five tetrahedrons.

The transport packages described for three and six tetrahedrons,respectively, may, if so Wished, be placed in a hexagonal transportbasket of known type. The way of stacking the transport packages inthese transport baskets will appear from the enclosed FIG. 5, whichdiagrammatically shows how a transport package for six tetrahedrons,here marked with Ztl, and two transport packages for three tetrahedrons,here marked with 21, are stacked in a hexagonal transport basket 22. Aswill be seen from the figure, a transport basket 22 may take either twotransport packages each containing six tetrahedrons or four transportpackages each containing three tetrahedrons.

I claim:

1. A transport package for and filled with containers in the form ofregular tetrahedrons each having four sides constituted by identicalequilateral triangles, said package comprising a plurality of wallpanels interconnected by crease lines and arranged to enclose aplurality of said tetrahedrons, two of said wall panels beingconstituted by congruent equal sided trapeziums having a common base, abase angle substantially equal to the base angle of said tetrahedronsand a height substantially equal to that of said tetrahedrons, saidtrapezium configured Wall panels being arranged to form an angle witheach other corresponding to the edge angle of said tetrahedrons whichrest against and are supported by said trapezium configured wall panels,the sides of said trapezium configured wall panels opposite the basesthereof being each connected to a wall panel provided with an apertureand establishing a carrying handle, at least one of said latter twopanels being indirectly connected to its appertaining trapeziumconfigured panel by means of a rectangularly configured panel, end wallpanels connected to the obliquely extending sides of said trapeziumconfigured panels and which constitute the end walls of said package,and at least two of said end wall panels being secured in a positionsubstantially perpendicular to at least said trapezium configured panelsby means of two triangular panels connected along one side to said endwall panels, each said triangular panel being connected along itshypotenuse to a further panel folded against and secured to saidrectangularly configured panel, and each said triangular panel beingfolded against and secured to the said further panel correlated thereto.

2. A transport package for and filled with three containers in the formof regular tetrahedrons each having four sides constituted by identicalequilateral triangles, said package comprising a plurality of wallpanels interconnected by crease lines and arranged to enclose saidtetrahedrons, two of said wall panels being constituted by congruentfirst and second equal sided trapeziums having a common base, a baseangle substantially equal to the base angle of said tetrahedrons and aheight substantially equal to that of said tetrahedrons, said trapeziumconfigured wall panels being arranged to form an angle with each othercorresponding to the edge angle of said tetrahedrons which rest againstand are supported by said trapezium configured wall panels, the side ofsaid first trapezium configured wall panel opposite the base thereofbeing connected to another panel provided with an aperture andestablishing a carrying handle, the side of said second trapeziumconfigured wall panel opposite the base thereof being connected to oneside of a rectangularly configured wall panel and the opposite side ofsaid rectangularly configured wall panel being connected to anotherpanel provided with an aperture and establishing a carrying handle, endwall panels connected to the obliquely extending sides of said first andsecond trapezium configured wall panels and which constitute the endwalls of said package, two of said end wall panels connected to saidsecond trapezium configured wall panel being secured in positionsubstantially perpendicular thereto by means of two triangular panelsconnected along one side to said two end wall panels, each saidtriangular panel being connected along its hypotenuse to a further panelfolded against and secured to said rectangularly configured panel, andeach said triangular panel being folded against and secured to saidfurther panel.

3. A transport package for and filled with six containers in the form ofregular tetrahedrons each having four sides constituted by identicalequilateral triangles, said package comprising a plurality of wallpanels interconnected by crease lines and arranged to enclose saidtetrahedrons, two of said wall panels being constituted by congruentequal sided trapeziums having a common base, a base angle substantiallyequal to the base angle of said tetrahedrons and a height substantiallyequal to that of said tetrahedrons, said trapezium configured wallpanels being arranged to form an angle with each other corresponding tothe edge angle of said teti'ahedrons which rest against and aresupported by said trapezium configured wall panels, the sides of saidtrapezium configured wall panels opposite the bases thereof being eachconnected to one side of a rectangularly configured wall panel and theopposite side of each said rectangularly configured wall panel beingconnected to another panel provided with an aperture and establishing acarrying handle, end wall panels connected to the obliquely extendingsides of each of said trapezium configured wall panels and whichconstitute the end walls of said package, said end Wall panels beingsecured in position substantailly perpendicular to said trapezium configured wall panels by means of triangular panels connected along one sideto said end wall panels, each said triangular panel being connectedalong its hypotenuse to a further panel folded against and secured tothe appertaining rectangularly configured wall panel, and each saidtriangular panel being folded against and secured to the said furtherpanel correlated thereto.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 29,644 11/98Davidson.

715,442 12/02 Van Horn 22922 2,173,494 9/39 Rous. 2,301,927 11/42Brogden 22922 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

1. A TRANSPORT PACKAGE FOR AND FILLED WITH CONTAINERS IN THE FORM OFREGULAR TETRAHEDRONS EACH HAVING FOUR SIDES CONSTITUTED BY IDENTICALEQUILATERAL TRIANGLES, SAID PACKAGED COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF WALLSPANELS INTERCONNECTED BY CREASE LINES AND ARRANGED TO ENCLOSE A PLUALITYOF SAID TETHRAHEDRONS, TWO OF SAID WALLS PANELS BEING CONSTITUTED BYCONGRUENT EQUAL SIDED TRAPEZIUMS HAVING A COMMON BASE, A BASE ANGLESUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE BASE ANGLE OF SAID TETRAHEDRONS AND A HEIGHTSUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THAT OF SAID TETRAHEDRONS, SAID TAPEZIUMCONFIGURED WALL PANELS BEING ARRANGED TO FORM AN ANGLE OF SAIDTETRAHEDRONS WHICH REST SPONDNG TO THE EDGE ANGLE OF SAID TETRAHEDRONSWHICH REST AGAINST AND ARE SUPPORTED BY TRAPEZIUM CONFIGURED WALLPANELS, THE SIDES OF SAID TGRAPEZIUM CONFIGURED WALL PANELS OPPOSITE THEBASES THEROF BEING EACH CONNECTED TO A WALL PANEL PROVIDED WITH ANAPERTURE AND ESTABLISHING A CARRYING HANDLE, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID LATTERTWO PANELS BEING INDIRECTLY CONNECTED TO ITS APPERTAINING TRAPEZIUMCONFIGURED PANEL BY MEANS OF A RECTANGULARLY CONFIGURED PANEL, END WALLPANELS CONNECTED TO THE OBLIQUELY EXTENDING SIDES OF SAID TRAPEZIUMCONFIGURED PANELS AND WHICH CONSTITUTE THE END WALLS OF SAID PACKAGE,AND AT LEAST TWO OF SAID END WALL PANELS BEING SECURED IN A POSITIONSUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO AT LEAST SAID TRAPEZIUM CONFIGURED PANELSBY MEANS OF TWO TRIANGULAR PANELS CONNECTED ALONG ONE SIDE TO SAID ENDWALL PANELS, EACH SAID TRIANGULAR PENEL BEING CONNECTED LONG ITSHYPOTENUSE TO A FURTHR PANEL FOLDED AGAINST AND SECURED TO SAIDRECTANGULARLY CONFIGURED PANEL, AND EACH SAID TRIANGULAR PANEL BEINGFOLDED AGAINST AND SECURED TO THE SAID FURTHER PANEL CORRELATED THERETO.